Soulless
by DragonStarDream
Summary: When Ichigo looses his Shinigami powers, things do not return to normal. With his friends lying in hospital beds and absence of his Shinigami powers, can he work out what's going on and help in time?


**AUTHORS NOTES:**

**Edited 24/01.2014 – Fixed some grammatical errors etc.**

At the time of writing this, I had watchedup to Season 9 of Bleach and about two episodes of Season 16 so that I could see what was going on, so I apologise for the inaccuracy.  
>Also, I had a word limit of 1500 – this piece is my first Bleach FanFiction, written for my English A Level, and went OVER this word limit (oops) so sorry if anything seems a little rushed.<p>

Soulless

"I can't feel any souls…my power is really vanishing, huh? Even Rukia's aura is gradually fading…" Ichigo thought to himself, looking out at the crystal blue sky above him. At that moment, Rukia stepped towards him.  
>"It's time for us to part, Ichigo," Rukia murmured, forcing a smile onto her face.<br>"Yeah…looks like it," Ichigo replied, looking down at the floor. Rukia blushed, before a sly grin slowly crept up her face.  
>"What are you making such a sad face for? Even if you can't see me, I can still see you,"<br>"What the hell?! How is that supposed to make me happy? And I wasn't making a sad face anyway," Came Ichigo's retort, quick as a flash.  
>Slowly, Rukia began to fade from Ichigo's vision, from the feet down; as Ichigo's reiatsu began to vanish.<br>"Give…everyone my best," Ichigo told her slowly, watching her slowly fade.  
>"Yeah," Rukia agreed; all but her shoulders upwards vanished now. She raised her head to look up to him, and Ichigo saw the moisture in her eyes. With a small gasp, Rukia faded from Ichigo's vision as all his reiatsu faded.<br>"Goodbye, Rukia. And thank you," Ichigo whispered into the wind.

It had been seventeen months since Ichigo Kurosaki had lost his Shinigami powers, and Rukia Kuchiki had not returned to Karakura Town, and Ichigo's reiatsu had shown no signs of returning. Ichigo had been trying to continue with life as normal… hell, that wasn't happening. Carrying on as "normal" was like trying to cut a hollow without a zanpakutō; it just didn't work. He desperately missed being a Shinigami, and although he hated to admit it to himself, he missed Rukia greatly too. Of course, being Ichigo, he refused to show any weakness, preferring to keep his usual scowl on his face.

However, things were not completely normal, which really didn't help the orange haired hot-head. His close friends, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado (Chad) and Uryū Ishida kept on being attacked by mysterious beings, but as Ichigo was no longer a Substitute Shinigami, there was nothing he could do to protect his friends, which _really_ pissed Ichigo off. "For cryin' out loud, my name even means 'He Who Protects!' Why the hell can't I do anything?" He snarled to no one in particular, picking up his school bag and swinging it over his shoulder. He walked alone today, "Since my friends are lying there in hospital beds with half their bodies ripped apart..." Ichigo growled, proceeding to take out his old Substitute Shinigami pass out of his pocket, giving the skull engraved in the wood a full scowl. Resisting the urge to chuck the pass into the river, he stormed the rest of the way to school, in a worse mood than usual. If he had any reiatsu, it would most certainly be giving off the stink of gloomy spiritual pressure. Ichigo sat in school in a massive temper throughout the whole of the morning, making a silent vow to kill whichever bastard was stupid enough to mess with his friends.

"Hey, Strawberry!" Ichigo quickly side-stepped, avoiding the usual hugs attacks from one of the guys he hanged around with, Keigo Asano. Instead, he shoved his elbow into Keigo's face, face, sending him crashing into the floor.  
>"Don't. Hug. Me. And that was for calling me strawberry," Ichigo told Keigo flatly, ignoring Keigo's usual protests.<br>"Ichigoooooo! Why you got to be so mean to me!" Keigo pouted, nursing a fresh nosebleed, the result of Ichigo's well-aimed elbow. Ichigo purposely blocked this out, choosing instead to bite into his lunch. Keigo was silent for a moment, before sitting down next to him.  
>"Hey Ichigo? You would have thought Rukia would have come back here at least once, right?" Keigo asked him. Ichigo's eyes widened slightly, but he kept his cool.<br>"Why would she? Her mission is finished."  
>"…Don't you miss her, Ichigo?"<br>"Of course not," Ichigo's tone and eyes were dead. He bent his head over his juice box, sipping from the drink. That was a complete lie, but _hell_, Ichigo was not going to let Keigo, of all people, know that. The rest of that day passed in a gloomy silence for Ichigo, until Keigo offered to walk back from school. "Sure. Give me someone to walk with," Ichigo agreed, shortening his stride to match Keigo's. Most of the walk was taken up my Keigo's aimless chattering – most of which Ichigo ignored – until the pair finally reached the place where they'd go their separate ways home. Finally, silence.

It didn't last.

"Ichigo! HELP!" Keigo's scream was loud and rang in Ichigo's ears from a street away. Ichigo hurriedly hurled the heavy school bag into the nearest fence, and plunged his hand desperately into his pocket and pulled out the Shinigami pass, pressing it to his chest, even though he knew it was useless.  
>"Argh! This stupid, dumbass piece of crap!" Ichigo yelled, replacing the pass in his pocket and sprinting towards the sound of Keigo's voice instead. Being a Shinigami had given him one advantage – a body made for fighting battles; with the added bonus of being quick and agile. Skidding slightly around the corner, what he saw made his mouth fall open in pure shock.<p>

Keigo was lying underneath a large pile of rubble, blood oozing out slowly from many cuts and injuries. What was worse, however, were the huge amounts of rubble _still_ falling at an extreme crushing rate. If Ichigo didn't get over there right now, Keigo would be crushed. Ichigo rushed over to Keigo's side, successfully managing to drag his body out from under the rubble before the place where he was lying was crushed. As he was dragging him, Keigo groaned – a massive relief for Ichigo, at least he wasn't killed.  
>"C'mon, Keigo! We gotta get you out of here!" Ichigo growled, looking wildly around for the source of the accident in the first place, but there seemed to be nothing there. Of course, this was never the case with Ichigo.<p>

Ichigo was dragged upwards and left dangling in the air by some unseen force, before being violently shaken. "Oh, crap. This isn't good," Ichigo snarled upside-down in mid-air. "If I could SEE it..."  
>In fact, what had attacked Keigo and was now attacking Ichigo was a Hollow. As Keigo was human, he was unable to see the Hollow. As for Ichigo… he couldn't exactly see it either, only Shinigami were able to see – and defeat, for that matter- a Hollow. This Hollow, however… seemed very different to the ones he used to fight. Judging by how high he was lifted, this Hollow was massive compared to the other types of Hollow. Gritting his teeth, Ichigo swung his leg up – and surprisingly, his foot connected to something solid. It must have been a hand, or an arm, because Ichigo was dropped to the floor like a rock. "Ow…dammit…" Ichigo groaned, rubbing at his head. Squinting up towards where he thought the Hollow was, he was very shocked when he was able to see the air shimmering like heat waves where the Hollow was standing, or maybe it was his imagination at this point. So he was able to see the massive mass of an arm, rushing down to run him completely in half.<p>

So it surprised him when the source of pain came from the _other_ way, and the edge of a crystal-blue zanpakutō sprouted through his chest. Tilting his head backwards, he attempted to see who was holding the blade. At first he was unable to see anything, before someone very similar swam into his view.

"_Rukia!_" Ichigo's voice came out half-strangled. That was all he was able to get out before there was a massive BANG, clouds of dust flying everywhere. Waves of reiatsu rolled out from the place which Ichigo was standing. When the dust finally cleared, Ichigo was standing again.

With his a zanpakutō in hand, powers restored.

"R-Rukia, what the _HELL!"_ Ichigo yelled to her, swinging round to face her. Ichigo was met by a fist to the face, and ended up on the floor.  
>"You complete <em>baka! <em>I take my eyes off you for seconds and you turn into a miserable pathetic fool!" Rukia yelled at him, anger clear. "Now stop standing there like an idiot and destroy that Menos Grande!"  
>Ichigo swung around. Rukia was right. It <em>was<em> a menos, a big one at that. However…Ichigo had faced these before. And now that he had Zangestu, it would be a piece of cake. Grabbing the zanpakutō by both hands, he held it straight out.

"Gesuga…Tenshou!"

A huge wave of Reiastu poured out from the blade, effectively cutting the Menos in two.  
>"Man..it felt good to be able to destroy Hollows again." Ichigo told Rukia, a grin spread out over his face.<br>"I was able to transfer my power to you again. The Soul Society allowed me. I think they missed your strength. That Menos is the thing that has been attacking your friends. Now that he is destroyed, they'll be alright. It was looking for you." Rukia explained, with a soft smile.  
>"That's good…'cause I'll be continuing as a Substitute Shinigami." Ichigo informed her, swinging the zanpakutō over his shoulder. Now that he has his powers back, all was well.<p> 


End file.
